For bicycle and pedestrian facilities to be truly functional as routes
between work, home, school, libraries, parks and shopping areas, they
must be part of an interconnected network. While access to these facilities
has improved tremendously in recent years, many gaps remain. Some of
the most daunting and important gaps to close are those that involve
physical barriers such as freeways, roads, rivers and hills. In these
cases, opening tun-nels or using bridges is often the most effective
and efficient way to close these gaps and make the trail a truly functional
and safe part of the transporta-tion network. Where tunnels or bridges
already exist, usually on abandoned railroad rights-of way, they represent
a tremendous asset to communities looking to create comfortable and
continuous facilities for walking and bicycling.

II. Background on Tunnels and Trails

Tunnels built on railroad corridors required enormous investments of
money and labor by the railroad companies that created them. When the
nation's active railroad network began its decline in the 1950s and
1960s, many of these tunnels were abandoned, remaining only as idle
and forgotten monu- ments to the great railroad age. In the last twenty
years, many of these tunnels have found new life as key components of
trans- portation corridors for cyclists and pedestri- ans. Sixty-five
percent of the tunnels in- cluded in this report were opened for trail
use since 1990. These new tunnels represent a significant and growing
trend that parallels the rapid growth in rail-trail conversions nationwide.

In hilly areas, tunnels and trestles are at the very heart of a rail-trail,
providing the consistency, continuity and flat grade that have made
rail-trails famous for their accessibility and broad appeal. The majority
of tunnels identified along trails were found clustered in the Mid-Atlantic
and Midwestern States, Northern California and the Pacific North- west
where mountainous terrain made them neces-sary for the safe and efficient
passage of trains. The original "Milwaukee Road" corridor that connected
Chicago to Seattle through the Rocky and Cascade mountain ranges required
the construction of some of the longest and most ambitious tunnels built
in the early part of the 20th century. The North Bend Railroad, traveling
72 miles through the Appalachians, included 22 tunnels, prompting Mark
Twain to dub it the "Appalachian Subway." Unfortunately, many rail-trails
often end at the portals of a tunnel, severing the continuity of the
trail. Although there may be alternative ways to get around the hills
that tunnels go through, these routes are often pro-hibitive to all
but the most experi-enced, fit and motivated bicyclists and pedestrians.
Maintaining a continuous, flat grade ensures that a trail is accessible
to people of all ages and ability levels, especially children, senior
citizens and people with disabilities, who are among the most appreciative
of these structures.

III. Methodology

Since this study was intended to help answer questions about longer
tunnels, similar to those in Marin County, the authors decided to exclude
tunnels under 100 feet in length. The authors then developed a five-page
survey designed in part to answer questions that were raised at several
public meetings in Corte Madera, Mill Valley and Larkspur, Calif. in
the summer and fall of 2000. The survey (Appendix E) asked questions
about various aspects of tunnel development and maintenance including
financial impact, plan-ning and design, structural and engineering issues,
impact on local communities, types and frequency of use, and management
issues. The survey was mailed to the managers of the 50 trails with
111 tunnels identified in the research. In subsequent discussions with
trail managers, it became clear that of these, 33 tunnels on 14 trails
did not meet the criteria of the study because the tunnels were closed,
were under 100 feet, or were shared with motor vehicle traffic. After
identifying the tunnels that met the criteria, 78 tunnels on 36 trails
remained.

In addition to the survey, the authors conducted in-depth case studies
of tunnels on five trails. These studies were conducted by telephone.
Each tunnel situation is unique, so these case studies show important
aspects of tunnel planning, design, operation and function that may
not otherwise have been revealed through the written survey.

IV. Findings

LOCATION: Trail tunnels were found in 20 states throughout the continental
United States, with the South and Southwest having the fewest tunnels
of any region. The locations of these tunnels can be at-tributed to
a region's geography, rail mileage and local trail advocacy.

Trail tunnels also exist in the context of a variety of land uses.
The largest number of tunnels were found in rural areas (48 percent),
followed by agricultural areas (15 percent), small towns (9 percent),
residential areas (6 percent), and mixed commer-cial/ residential neighborhoods
(6 percent). 6

Tunnel Intensive Trails: While most trails surveyed had one or two
tunnels, the authors designated three as "tunnel intensive" trails because
they had six or more tunnels open to trail users. The Iron Horse State
Park Trail in Washington State and the Route of the Hiawatha Trail crossing
from Idaho into Montana, have six and eight open tunnels respectively.
The North Bend Trail in West Virginia, following the old CSX route from
Parkersburg to Grafton through the Appalachian Mountains, goes through
10 of its 22 original tunnels.

Dimensions and Types of Tunnels: Tunnels come in a wide variety of
shapes and sizes. Tunnels included in this study varied in length from
100 feet (the Des Plaines River Tunnel, Ill.) to 2.3 miles (Snoqualmie
Tunnel, Iron Horse State Park, Wash.), with an average length of 915
feet for rehabilitated tunnels and 301 feet for newly constructed tunnels.
The widest tunnel was the 60-foot wide Paw Paw Tunnel along the C&O
Canal Trail in Maryland. The narrowest tunnel was the 10-foot wide Coots
Lake Tunnel along the Silver Comet Trail in Georgia. The average tunnel
width was 20 feet. Tunnel height ranged from 10 feet (the I-90 tunnel
in Washington and the Coot's Lake Tunnel in Georgia) to 42 feet (the
National Road Bikeway Tunnel in Ohio), with an average height of 22
feet. See Appendix D for a list of all tunnel dimensions.

Tunnels fall into two main categories: "mined" tunnels and "cut and
cover" tunnels. The majority of the rehabilitated tunnels are "mined
tunnels," origi-nally bored through large hills or mountains, requiring
considerable planning, geologic investigation and cost to construct.
Mined tun-nels use a variety of reinforcement methods including wood
sets, steel sets or ribs, steel liner plates, pre-cast concrete segments,
cast-in-place concrete, pipe canopies or shotcrete.8

Most of the newly constructed tunnels are "cut and cover" tunnels created
by excavating a trough from the surface, installing a struc-ture, and
backfilling over the tunnel to grade. This type of tunnel is typically
used to provide grade separation where a trail crosses a road or highway.

Structural and Engineering Issues

There is an entire profession dedicated to the design, physics, construction
and rehabilitation of tunnels. Most tunnel engineering firms work on
rail, road or water tunnel projects, but an increas-ing number are being
hired to work on non-motor-ized tunnels. The primary structural issues
that arise when building or rebuilding tunnels for bicy-clists and pedestrians
are similar to those for mo-torized tunnels. These include ensuring
proper drainage or waterproofing, preventing rock falls and ensuring
overall structural stability.

Most tunnels require some method of support-ing the weight above them.
In the 19th century, brick or timber supports were used extensively.
Current construction design uses concrete and steel, which are stronger
and more durable. The type of structural support used depends on local
geology. Most tunnels are bored through rock, but some, like the I-90
Tunnel in Washington state (see case study C), are built in soft soil.
Tunnels bored through hard types of rock such as granite fre-quently
need no additional support.

Of the trails with "mined" tunnels, the largest number (nine) used
concrete linings for support. Seven used brick or stone masonry linings,
five used timber supports including the Bizz Johnson Trail's tunnels
in Northern California, and three used no supports at all. The remaining
tunnels used steel sets, steel liner plates or shotcrete lining. Drainage
is an important engineering issue in tunnels. Engineers may seek to
avoid buildup of water by installing drainage pipes behind the tun-nel
lining or waterproofing of the tunnel lining as a more aggressive solution.
When a railroad tunnel is converted for bicycle and pedestrian use,
poor drainage can also create puddles that damage the trail surface.
Engineers cope with unwanted water on the tunnel surface in several
ways. The primary method for channeling water is to raise the trail
surface in the middle and have drainage channels along one or both walls.
In rural tunnels, trail man-agers often use a higher content of sand
and larger sized gravel for the surface to facilitate drainage.

Of greatest concern to engineers seeking to ensure the safety of the
public is determining the overall soundness of the tunnel structure.
A struc-tural analysis typically starts with a visual inspection of
the tunnel to assess geology and the condition of the tunnel's support
and lining. In some cases, engineers will conduct a geotechnical investigation
to assess ground conditions, which can involve drilling and sampling
test holes, performing labora-tory tests and sometimes conducting geophysical
surveys to "see" the ground behind the tunnel lining and/or evaluate
the structural integrity of the lining.

Falling rocks are of primary concern when planning a non-motorized
tunnel. There are sev-eral effective methods to prevent rock falls.
The most commonly used method is the application of a wire mesh to the
unstable areas, followed by an application of shotcrete, which sets
loose rocks in place. Other solutions include the use of rock bolts
in conjunction with wire mesh or steel straps to stabilize loose rock
between rock bolts.

Tunnels in seismically active areas have special engineering factors
to consider. Interestingly, tunnels are not known for their vulnerability
in earthquakes. They resist rolling and shaking to a much greater extent
than other structures such as bridges and buildings, because they are
"flexible" and tend to move with the ground. The presence of an active
fault area near a tunnel or the vulner-ability of a tunnel due to extreme
shaking during an earthquake can be accommodated by certain types of
tunnel support/lining systems.

V. CONCLUSION

Many people recognize the tremendous benefits that an open tunnel provides
by linking important destinations. Yet for some, tunnels still evoke
images of dark places where vagrants linger or illegal activities take
place. The results of this study demonstate that contrary to the negative
expectations of some residents, tunnels do not impose undue safety or
financial burdens on local communities and that, in fact, tunnels on
trails are quite safe.

Of the 78 tunnels included in this study, crimes reported in or around
the tunnels were extremely rare. The results suggest that with proper
attention to design and management, tunnels become tremen- dous community
assets that encourage and safely accommodate greater trail use. Equally
impressive is the degree to which tun-nels facilitated non-motorized
transportation. Managers reported that tunnels make bicycle and pedestrian
networks equitable by creating routes that are direct and avoid steep
hills making them easy for everyone&emdash;including children, the elderly,
and people with disabilities&emdash;to use. They generate community
pride and understanding of local his-tory and draw increased trail user
traffic with its associated economic benefits. Although it may seem
daunting to reopen or build a tunnel, the dozens of open tunnels around
the country demonstrate their great potential to link communities and
help create sustainable transportation networks.

CASE STUDY A: I-80 Undercrossing, Davis, California

Arriving in Davis, California, for the first time, you will notice
signs welcoming you to the city that proudly display the city's logo--
the bicycle. There are no traditional school buses in Davis. Instead,
"buses" and "trains" of school children walk or ride their bikes to
school using the 46 miles of off-road, multi-use paths and 47 miles
of bike lanes that constitute the area's vast bicycle network. The city
estimates that a minimum of 20 percent of all com-mute trips are made
by bicycle, and that 60-70 percent of all children walk or bike to school.
Many consider Davis (population 58,000) to be the most bicycle-friendly
city in the United States.

One of the major north-south commuter routes for non-motorized traffic
is the 1.75-mile Putah Creek Path. It connects the primarily residen-tial
south Davis to the university and other centers of commerce and employment
in the northern part of the city. Interstate 80, the major east-west
freeway in northern California, runs through the center of Davis, bisecting
the northern and southern parts of the city. Bicycle commuters had to
detour along Richardson Avenue, a major four-lane north-south automobile
arterial, with merging high-speed traffic and sharp on and off-ramps.
Despite the fact that there are bike lanes on Richardson Avenue, they
are badly broken up, and it is a dangerous crossing even for skilled
cyclists. Tim Bustos, bicycle coordinator and planner for the City of
Davis, says, "For years people told me, 'I would bike except for the
Richardson Avenue freeway overpass.' " Apparently this short treacherous
crossing alone was sufficient to deter potential bicycle and pedestrian
traffic.

This desire for a better freeway crossing eventually translated into
a groundswell of support for a separated bike and pedestrian path underneath
the freeway. In planning the tunnel, adjacent communities raised concerns
about crime, occupation by vagrants, increased traffic and loss of pri-vacy.
Enhanced police patrols, bright lighting, solar powered emergency phones
and a special flared design give the tunnel a distinct sense of security
(see photo). Anticipating a high volume of commuters and planning especially
for night use, the city designed the tunnel to be very bright and open
with long clear sight distances, with virtually nowhere for vagrants
to loiter.

The construction of the tunnel was an impressive feat. Interstate 80
had to be raised one direction (3 lanes) at a time, and a bridge had
to be built beneath each side. The total cost of the project was $4.2
million, which included engineering, planning, design, construction,
lighting, fencing, benches, water fountains and landscaping.

The results have been extremely encouraging and community feedback
has been very positive, according to Tim Bustos. He notes that bicycle
commuting has increased fourfold since the tunnel opened. Further, he
notes, "There was, and continues to be much latent demand for bicycling
facili-ties. As soon as you make it easy and safe for people, you witness
a tremendous increase in use." The tunnel has indeed facilitated an
increase in bicycling between north and south Davis. At a ribbon-cutting
event to celebrate the opening of the tunnel, elected officials and
city planners had a hard time stringing the ribbon across the trail
because of all of the bicycle traffic going in and out of the tunnel.
Before the facility had even been opened to the public, Davis bicyclists
were celebrat-ing the safe and convenient commuting option provided
by their new tunnel, in the best of ways-- by using it!

CASE STUDY B: Snoqualmie Tunnel, Iron Horse State Park, Washington

The Iron Horse State Park Trail is built on the Chicago, Milwaukee,
St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Corridor that once brought passenger and
freight trains from Chicago to Seattle. This former railroad corridor
currently features 16 open trail tunnels, the most of any single corridor
in the United States. They can be found as part of three trails built
on the old rail alignment. There are six tunnels along the section in
Washington State referred to as the Iron Horse State Park Trail, including
the longest trail tunnel in the country, the 2.3-mile Snoqualmie Tunnel.

Two additional tunnels are found east of the Co-lumbia River on the
Milwaukee Road Trail. Farther east in Idaho, the Route of the Hiawatha
Trail boasts eight open tunnels, and will soon re-open the 1.6-mile
St. Paul Pass Tunnel that crosses the border between Idaho and Montana.
Trail advo-cates and park planners have an ambitious vision that one
day, utilizing dozens of original railroad tunnels and trestles, the
trails will connect to each other to form a single, seamless route from
the Pacific Ocean to Montana.

The Snoqualmie Tunnel is truly an impressive structure. Blasted through
the basalt rock of Snoqualmie Pass between 1912 and 1915, the fin-ished
tunnel provided a direct connection for trains to reach Seattle from
the east. The tunnel features large wooden doors on either end that
were kept closed in the winter, except when a train came through, to
prevent ice formation.

After trains stopped running and the corridor was abandoned in 1980,
Washington State pur-chased the line for utility rights and to develop
a non-motorized trail. The Snoqualmie Tunnel was sealed shut until 1994,
when the agency made the decision to re-open the tunnel to the public.
A dedicated team made up of Washington Youth Conservation Corps, a local
prison crew, volunteers and state parks staff rehabilitated 4.6 miles
of worn drainage structures, called scuppers, that ran along-side each
wall. They also resurfaced the tunnel with crushed granite.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the tunnel took place in September
1994. Attending were elected officials, state parks staff, other dignitaries
and hundreds of members of the public patiently waiting on mountain
bikes for the tunnel doors to open. The elected officials and state
parks staff had the opportunity to catch a first glimpse of the re-stored
tunnel before the doors were opened to the public. According to Tim
Schmidt, park manager, when the group arrived at the end of the tunnel,
"the state senators, congressmen and local mayors all had huge grins
on their faces."

The Snoqualmie tunnel has been an enormous attraction since its opening.
People travel from all over the country, and even around the world,
to pedal or hike through the tunnel, which is perpetu-ally pitch black,
cold and damp. Trail users are required to use headlights on their bikes
or carry flashlights, and warm clothing is recommended. It takes roughly
20 minutes to bike through the tun-nel and 45 minutes to walk it. It's
a unique feeling, according to those who have traveled through it, to
be one mile inside a mountain. The tunnel has provided public access
to areas that were previously inaccessible and has resulted in a huge
influx of cash into the local economy. The people who live in the towns
surrounding the tunnel are grateful that it's now a part of their community.

CASE STUDY C: I-90 Tunnel, Bellevue, Washington

The Mt. Baker Ridge Bike/ Pedestrian Tunnel, also referred to as the
"I-90 Tunnel," is the country's most impressive example of an urban
tunnel constructed specifically for non-motorized transportation. The
1,500-foot long tunnel was built in the mid-1980s as the top level of
a three-tiered tunnel project con-necting Seattle with the neighboring
city of Belle-vue. In addition to the trail, the project included a
reversible roadway for carpools and transit on the bottom level and
three lanes for general highway traffic in the middle. This is also
one of the few tunnels built through a soft earth ridge, a type of geology
that is notoriously challenging to tunnel engineers.

The bicycle/pedestrian tunnel is open 24 hours, is fully lighted and
features two closed circuit TV cameras that are monitored 24 hours a
day as part of the Washington Department of Transportation's traffic
management system. To add some character to the tunnel and to discourage
graffiti, the state DOT allowed locally sponsored school children to
paint murals on the tunnel walls. During the community planning process,
people expressed fears that there would be increased crime and litter
as a result of the project. According to Phil George, maintenance and
operations superintendent at the Washington State Depart-ment of Transportation,
"Most had never heard of tunnels for bicycles and pedestrians before,
and had negative reactions to the concept."

Several expressed fears that homeless people would sleep in the tunnel
and that tunnel users would fall victim to violent crime. In the 12
years since the tunnel opened, for the most part these fears have not
materialized. The only incident in the tunnel's history was an attempted
purse snatching. The technician who was monitoring the CCTV at the time
noticed that something was awry, and rushed down the stairs to the tunnel.
His shouts scared the assailant off and the woman with her purse went
on her way. Inci-dentally, this is the only attempted violent crime
reported in any of the 78 tunnels surveyed.

The Washington State DOT has had far more trouble maintaining its highway
tunnels than the bike/pedestrian tunnel. In the motorized tunnel, it
has had to deal with a serious graffiti problem, as well as occasional
vandalism of the emergency phones and theft of fire extinguishers in
the tun-nels. According to Mr. George, the problems they face with the
highway tunnels are a result of the easy escape provided by cars. In
the middle of the night, hooligans are free to tag the walls with graf-fiti
and then hop back in their vehicles to make a quick getaway. It is much
harder for a criminal to escape on bike or foot after a crime.

Mr. George has observed that "prior to the tunnel opening, people were
dis-suaded from bicycling because of the difficulty of the route. We've
seen a significant increase in walk-ing and especially bicycling since
the tunnel went in." After witnessing firsthand the success of the I-90
bike and pedestrian tunnel, Mr. George believes that infrastructure
improve-ments are the most effective method to get people out of their
cars and onto their feet and bikes. He notes, "The Mt. Baker Ridge Bicycle/
Pedestrian Tunnel has been a tre-mendous success and is an asset to
the entire community."

CASE STUDY D: The Capital Crescent Trail, Washington, DC

Pick a sunny summer day to visit the Capital Crescent Trail in the
Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., and you may see as many as 560
pedestrians, baby carriages, cyclists, wheelchair users, in-line skaters
and joggers pass a given point on the trail every hour.

The 11-mile Capital Crescent Trail, which gets its name from its shape,
connects downtown Wash-ington, D.C. with the Maryland suburbs of Bethesda
and Silver Spring. This urban and suburban green-way, once an active
railroad corridor, is an integral part of a growing network of trails
and pathways allowing residents to traverse the D.C. metropolitan area
via "muscle-powered means." The CSX railroad carried coal and building
materials along this line from 1910 until its abandonment in 1985. At
that time the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail (CCCT) formed
to promote its conversion to a rail-trail.

Heavily used for commuting and recreation, this corridor links residents
with parks, trails, cen-ters of employment and com-merce. In addition
to its heavy use, this trail is remarkable for its interesting managing
arrangement and its two tunnels, the Wisconsin Avenue and the Dalecarlia,
which facilitate travel along the corridor. Three management agencies
jointly own and govern operations of the trail: the National Park

Service maintains the trail from Georgetown to the D.C.-Maryland line;
the Montgomery County Department of Parks has jurisdic-tion from that
line to central Bethesda, Md.; and the Montgom-ery County Department
of Public Works and Transportation oversees operations from Bethesda
to Silver Spring, Md. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also paid for
a bridge and fencing to separate trail users from land in their jurisdiction.
The Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail contributed funds to the
development of the Wiscon-sin Avenue tunnel.

In 1997, a cyclist traveling eastbound on the Capital Crescent Trail
arriving in downtown Bethesda would have found locked gates at the tunnel
under Wisconsin Avenue, requiring a detour through several busy streets
to rejoin the trail. Opening this tunnel had been a long-standing objective
of the CCCT, who recognized the impor-tance of this safe and convenient
connection be-tween trail segments. Ellen Jones, executive direc-tor
of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, anticipating the positive
effects of an open tunnel, remarked, "With the separation of trail users
from motorized vehicle traffic, the comfort level will go up for everybody."

Opening the Wisconsin Avenue tunnel was controversial for a few reasons.
Running the length of two full city blocks, this 800-foot tunnel passes
under a 6-lane road and two buildings. After the railroad became inactive,
vagrants occasionally occupied the tunnel, forcing Montgomery County
to erect gates at both ends. As a result, the re-opening process involved
a number of measures designed to make the tunnel a safe and attractive
facility.

Due to the tunnel's width (35 feet), users feared that the space on
either side of the 14-foot trail would provide a haven for home-less
people or criminals. In re-sponse, the County provided light-ing, installed
high grade fencing to section off the extra width of the tunnel, and
enforced hours of operation: 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. (ex-cept for commuting
cyclists) via a security firm. In a display of the group's dedication,
the CCCT put 2/3 of its budget 30 into funding the installation of "globe"
lights that would illuminate the wide tunnel more fully than the lights
originally chosen by the county. Further, they funded the costs of running
the trail along the outside of the curve in the tunnel, in order to
provide longer sight lines. As a result, it became possible to see nearly
the full length of this 800- foot curved tunnel, largely relieving concerns
about personal safety.

You're asking for trouble," said some local residents when Dennis Bigler,
the director of public services for the City of St. Clairsville, Ohio
proposed building a trail on the abandoned Wheeling and Lake Erie right-of-way
that runs through the 500-foot National Road Tunnel. Residents were
worried that the trail, and especially the tunnel, would become a magnet
for criminal behavior, attracting loitering teenagers, muggers, rapists
and even murderers. Homeowners living close to either end of the tunnel
also were concerned about less drastic consequences, such as loss of
privacy and increased noise." Opening this tunnel is nuts," said one
vehement trail opponent at a public meeting."

Trail advocates worked with local landowners and presented ideas to
help address their concerns. For example, providing 24-hour lighting
was pro- posed as a way to help address worries about crimi- nal activity
and general safety. Eventually, the town decided to move forward with
the project and secured a $1.2 million Transportation Enhancements grant
from the Ohio Department of Transportation for planning and development.

The community had a broad vision to create a linear park that would
be the centerpiece of the community, a place where neighbors could meet
and chat and people could bike or skate in safety. The tunnel was the
focal point of the trail and the bulk of the design and engineering
went to ensur- National Road Bikeway after reconstruction. Credit: City
of St. Clairsville, Ohio. National Road Bikeway prior to trail development.
Credit: City of St. Clairs-ville, Ohio. ing its structural integrity
and improving its aes-thetic quality. The re-design of the tunnel included
an elaborate staircase and two overlooks above the portals of the tunnel,
largely funded by the St. Clairsville Rotary Club.

The trail opened in June 1998 and soon be-came the pride of the entire
town. Former trail opponents became some of the trail's biggest sup-porters.
Criminal activity did not materialize: Since opening, there has not
been a single reported incident of serious problem behavior on the trail
or in the tunnel. There have only been minor isolated occurrences of
vandalism, such as signs being sto-len and a bench broken.

Women report that they feel safe using the tunnel even at night, because
of the well-lit environment and, because others are often using the
trail. The town ran conduits for video security cameras when they in-stalled
the lighting in the tunnel, but it quickly became obvious that cameras
weren't necessary.

The people who walk, bike or jog on the trail are respectful and quiet,
say neighbors. Their presence helps deter less wholesome activities,
such as teen-age drinking, which has dried up since the tunnel opened.
The National Road Bikeway is home to the only rail-trail tunnel in Ohio
and tourists from all over the region flock to St. Clairsville just
to see it. St. Clairsville's logo for the bikeway depicts a cyclist
pedaling through the arch of the tunnel.

To direct bicyclists and others to the bikeway, the town has stenciled
the logo onto some of its streets, with an arrow indicating the direction
of the bikeway. Residential areas are located directly adjacent to the
tunnel's portals and the downtown commer-cial district is several blocks
away. A nature trail through a forested area provides a quiet "alterna-tive
route" for trail users. People living in the neigh-borhoods near the
tunnel had always thought of the abandoned structure as a liability.
Since the town renovated the tunnel, it has become an essen-tial part
of the neighborhood, with people of all ages strolling and pedaling
through it. The lonely, abandoned feeling has disappeared completely
and the town itself is experiencing a renaissance in large part due
to the trail and its tunnel.

The only problems associated with the tunnel, according to Dennis Bigler,
have been related to water drainage. In the winter, icicles form and
can pose a threat to the people below. In addition, ice patches up to
one foot thick form on the surface of the bikeway, creating a hazard.
The town avoids the use of salt whenever possible because of its impact
on the surrounding vegetation. To mitigate this problem, they have been
spreading sand on the trail, and have made liberal use of warning signs
and tape.

The man who thought that opening the tunnel was "nuts" is now a big
fan of the entire bikeway. He regularly calls city hall to report on
the condition of the trail, including which flowers need more water
in the landscaped areas. Strangely enough, the bikeway's greatest fans
haven't been the young kids on in-line skates, the teenagers on bicycles,
or the young parents pushing their babies along the trail in strollers.
The most fervent praise has come from the town's senior citizens. Dennis
Bigler describes an incident that occurred the day after the tunnel
opening: "An 86- year-old woman who had lived in St. Clairsville her
whole life climbed the steps of City Hall and handed me a twenty dollar
bill as a contribution toward the trail. 'Thank you,' she said, her
hands trembling and tears welling in her eyes. 'Thank you for building
this bikeway. It is the best thing that has ever happened to our town.'"